Another Butterfly, Crushed
by forgotten-serenade
Summary: I am Become Death verse. What if Gabriel lived? what if Peter came back from the dead? peter finds Gabriel in the wasteland that was Costa Verde, healing factor severely compromised. sends him to past to elude Pinehearst **better than it sounds**


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A.N. ok this is an idea before the eclipse episodes that I kinda wanted to try out… its an AU obviously but anyways I claim no character or the series 'Heroes' and I do wish Sylar/Gabriel was a Petrelli, maybe he is, maybe Arthur isn't that father… oh well one can hope right?

Dust had long since settled in the city of Costa Verde, or what used to be the city. Any semblance of civilization had been reduced to ashes within seconds of the explosion. Two days had passed since the blast; the city remained indefinitely sealed off, declared ground zero of a terrorist attack launched by them, the naturally gifted. The ones who didn't need the injection like most of society to be special. Word spread almost as sudden as the explosion itself, that it was some sort of radical protest of the injection. However, only a few individuals knew what really happened and how over 200,000 people died as the result of the carelessness of three individuals.

President Petrelli was not, by any means, having a good day. He was exhausted, exhausted from another long day of giving speeches, all unsuccessful in his attempt to give his ailing country hope. That mixed with his attempts to protect his family, although his family didn't do much to repay his actions, only added to his stress. His brothers' and his own daughter were directly being the attack. How sad it was that he and few seldom others knew of how his own daughter, along with her followers, murdered his nephew, Noah, in an attempt to kill Gabriel. Or perhaps it was to kill Sylar, as that was all Claire was able to see him as.

Nathan now found himself sitting in a rather uncomfortable chair beside his brother's corpse, but then, morgues weren't traditionally a place of comfort for the living. It was something he thought he'd never see- Peter Petrelli, his indestructible baby brother, dead at thirty-two. Never the less, he knew that if that man in the other room- an enigmatic 'natural' who only went be the name 'the Haitian'- left; Peter would awaken. The Haitian, as Nathan noted, was gifted with the ability to cancel out abilities; much like a character in a comic he'd found Peter reading when they were younger he found himself thinking distantly.

To make matters worse he still had no information about whether Gabriel, his other brother, was still alive or dead. He knew Gabriel had the ability to heal, he just wasn't sure his brother would let himself live after what happened to Noah.

The eldest Petrelli son found himself thinking back to the past four years, how greatly Gabriel had changed, he was no longer unable to control the 'hunger' that plagued him since his ability manifested, that with the added stress of being a single parent brought about a full change to his demeanor. He no longer felt the need to kill to appease his hunger to know more. This was the dark side of his gift; his intuitive aptitude. Although, Nathan could swear he saw a little bit of Sylar come though every time something went wrong with Noah. He froze for a moment in memory of his late nephew, just four years wasn't enough time to live, let alone die. His thoughts retreated to the memory of his other brother, and how drastically Peter had changed in the past four years; his scar, Claire's betrayal, the injection, being haunted by all of these had changed his brother from the hopeless dreamer he once was to the callous, scarred man laying before him on the metal slab.

But he was resolved to try to fix this; let it never be said that the Petrelli's didn't have connections. He knew he'd found a way to awaken his brother, although more practical than either of his brothers - flying didn't tend useful in closed spaces. He rose from his chair, stretching as he did so, his designer suit crumpled as he attempted to alleviate the tension. Leaving his briefcase behind, he strode across the room with an air of authority worthy of the commander and chief that he was to the doorway of the Haitian's room. That is, if it could actually be called someone's room, the space itself reminded him of a storage closet- perhaps that was how he wanted it. The Haitian stood from his swivel chair at the sight of the older Petrelli; his stony face seemed to lighten with the ghost of a smile as he saw the president - that changed quickly as he looked in the direction of Peter's corpse.

"I am only doing what I believe is right." the Haitian said in a low baritone, he spoke in a tone that would make even the most psychotic calm to hear it, though his dark eyes showed no compassion. Nathan took another step towards him, his hands dipped into the deep pockets of his suit coat; there was a glint of something the darker man had never seen before in the other's eyes.

"I know." he pulled one hand from his pocket and grasped the Haitian's shoulder in what could almost be a sign of companionable understanding.

"So am I." With that the Haitian felt a slight sting - there in the Petrelli's hand - an empty syringe. A shark-like grin bestowed itself upon Nathan.

"What did you-" the sudden pain choked him off, liquid agony spread from the injection spot quickly to every inch of his being- pain resonating in skull.

"Think of it as a gift, from Doctor Suresh."

Mohinder Suresh was a very misunderstood man, a geneticist actually, with a paternal issue; a long dead father who never cared for him, he wasn't _special_. A few years prior to now, he decided he wanted to be 'special'. He attempted to create the artificial gene to enable him an ability, only for his experiment to go horribly wrong. His mistake left him disfigured, mutated- he, ever since that day, dedicated his work to eliminating the gene - which someone had long since perfected. Just the previous year, he'd made a breakthrough; creating a compound that eliminated his flawed artificial gene. And from that it was only a matter of time until he could nullify the pure strand.

The eldest Petrelli strode out quickly from the small room, leaving the now unconscious Haitian, just in time to hear his brother gasp for breath. Nathan released a breath he had not known he'd held as Peter glanced wildly around the room, before realizing where he was. His copper eyes focused on his older brother.

"Nathan!" he swung his legs off the metal slab, cautious to not remove the sheet covering him. Had it been on better circumstances Nathan would have laughed at his brother's appearance; his dark hair, normally slicked back, stood mussed up; much like bed head. He propped open his forgotten briefcase and produced a change of clothes for his younger brother.

"Here" he turned away to give Peter some privacy.

"What happened?" and the dreaded question reared its ugly head. Nathan refused to 'sugar coat' the truth, his little brother deserved to know.

"Claire. She got to Gabriel," he said despondently as Peter finished putting on his dark jeans.

"And Noah?" he buttoned up the black shirt Nathan gave him.

"Dead, Pete. Claire killed him" He fought hard to keep emotion out of his voice, Peter's fingers froze for a moment.

"There's more to this- what aren't you telling me, Nathan." the younger Petrelli demanded, his voice becoming low. Nathan hated to admit it, but now with the scar across his face, his brother looked deadly. Nathan turned to face his brother, a haunted expression upon his face.

"The past you, he found Gabriel. But Claire must've had Daphne- the fast one, you remember? - To get Molly to find him. There, was a fight and Knox ended up killing Noah. Gabe-Gabriel lost control; it was too much for him. He went nuclear." it was Peter's turn to look shocked. His brother was known for his ability to keep control; he ridiculed Peter a few years prior for being in the same position.

"How many dead?" the edge to his voice was gone - replaced with an almost crestfallen tone. Nathan closed his eyes; he knew his brother didn't need to hear what he was about to say.

"A least 200,000" his gaze fell to the floor, he could have stopped this; he could have done something. Damn the chaos theory, those were innocent people – his nephew, his brother.

"Peter, there was _nothing_ you or anyone else could have done." Nathan tried to console the empath, once again making him wonder whether his brother was telepathic.

"Of course there was. I should have been there. I could have helped." Nathan shook his head; to this day he still couldn't understand why his brother insisted upon trying to save the world. The world would always need saving; to err was to be human and to attempt to fix that would result in so many other problems.

"Peter, there was no possible way for you to have prevented it. For once, Pinehearst was a step ahead, which just means we have to try harder. After all, what would Gabe want?" Nathan immediately hated himself for using that card, but it seemed to have the desired result – Peter's anger dissolved.

"Any word from him?" Peter asked hesitantly, almost dreading the answer. His brother froze for a moment and shook his head. The glint of hope in the empath's eyes all but diminished.

"Nothing Pete, I'm so sorry." Nathan's voice seemed like gravel as he said those words. It hadn't seemed like at first, but their not-so-new found brother grew on them both and despite the rocky beginning- twins Peter and Gabriel Petrelli bonded in the four years since the reunion. Their mother, Angela, separated the twins at birth in hope to prevent the effects of Pinehearst and their injection. All of that seemed in vain now, Pinehearst had all but wiped out Primatech, and the injection was now global. The screening process for the injection itself was flawed, it seemed as though anyone could get the shot, murderers, conmen- not a day went by now that didn't have a article about an 'unnatural' blowing up a building or, in last weeks case, killing hundreds in an earthquake.

Gabe wouldn't want this, he was appalled the day he heard the injection would be available. Gabriel would know how to fix this, he could fix anything. It was then Peter had an idea, he turned abruptly and strode to the door.

"Pete, where are you…" the president's voice trailed off, he knew where his brother was going, and he followed.

"Peter, He's dead." he tried to reason, but Peter wouldn't hear it. The younger Petrelli reached the door to the morgue, pausing as his hand touched the door handle.

"He didn't leave me behind, he saved my life, and I'm not going to leave him." he said without turning back. Something in his voice said something a little different, '_I _need _to bring him back, I _owe _him that much.'_

Nathan shook his head, not believing what he was about to say.

"Just bring him home Pete." and with that Peter pulled open the door and took off into the sky.


End file.
